


things to get used to

by orphan_account



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 04:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20576699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Uh – what exactly are you doing?""What does it look like?" Kaneki's eyes seem to shine, even as he gazes at her as if she had just asked the world's most obvious question. Smiling, he decides to give her an answer. "I'm cuddling with you."





	things to get used to

**Author's Note:**

> Another one. I feel like I'm getting lazier with my titles lol

"Uh – what exactly are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Kaneki's eyes seem to shine, even as he gazes at her as if she had just asked the world's most obvious question. Smiling, he decides to give her an answer. "I'm cuddling with you."

Touka's entire body stutters nervously. While he was gone, she had imagined a lot of things she should have done with Kaneki – things Touka promised herself that if she ever saw him again, she would do with him. She had daydreamed of apologizing to him for those hurtful words she had flung at him on the bridge, or holding and kissing him, in the safety of her dark bedroom she had even envisioned doing..._other_ things. But _cuddling_? Cuddling was not one of those things. 

Once more Touka finds herself completely out of her element when it comes to Kaneki Ken. 

Pitifully Touka tries to explain, "I'm not a very good cuddler." 

Touka sees him raise his eyebrow just as he pulls her closer to his chest. Her face blooms crimson. How is it something as innocent as cuddling could throw her off-kilter – especially considering they'd done _that _already? 

"I disagree. You're great." Her face is burning. Touka's torn between wanting to lean further into his embrace and wanting to be swallowed by the bed they sat on. She entertains the thought of maybe pushing him away, bristling at him for not giving her space. Years ago she would have done that – but she was different now, was she? Despite her face being on fire, she is almost embarrassed to admit to herself that she doesn't mind this side of Kaneki, this clingy, needy side.

"You're sappy," Touka accuses with no malice as his lips brush against the column of her neck. She feels his lips upturn against her skin. At least he didn't deny it. 

Then a thought strikes her. Kaneki was here, in her cell, sitting on her bed and not out doing his Kingly duties. Usually, these moments of intimacy between them had to wait until later into the night when the Ward was still. Children could be heard in the distances, playing and laughing. And yet he was here, with her. She's not complaining, but again, it's curious. 

"Don't you have work to do?" She tries to turn around to face him, but he keeps her hips still. His teeth nibble at her jugular, causing her to gasp, his grasp on her hips tightens. 

"No, why? Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No," she admits softly. 

"Then shut up." Within an instant, she has wriggled out of his grasp and socks him on the arm. Like old times. 

"Asshole!" she says, though unlike old times her eyes are playful, as are his. She's not sure when this happened – when it became so easy for him to tease her light-hearted and for her to reciprocate in kind. It's easy to be playful with him, and somehow around him, she feels like the teenager she was never able to be. 

"Sorry, sorry," he says, pulling her back against his chest and she lets him without a fight. "The truth is," he begins once she's settled and comfortable, "Tsukiyama and Nishiki insisted I get some rest. I'm supposed to be in my cell sleeping right about now."

Touka's lips quirk as she pokes the hand that is around her waist, reprimanding him "And yet you're here." 

"Hey, no one tells a King what to do." Touka snorts. "Anyway, technically, I am resting. With my girlfriend. If only she'd stop being so fidgety."

If Touka's face had been beet red before, now it's a shade beyond that. They hadn't labelled whatever they were earlier. Of course, she had known this meant something, something to both of them, but to hear him call her his **g-i-r-l-f-r-i-e-n-d** was something she wasn't prepared for. 

Her heart hammers in her chest. "Your girlfriend?" Her voice sounds small and unsure, even to her ears. She clears her throat and repeats louder, "You want me to be your girlfriend?"

She feels Kaneki stiffen behind her. "Yeah...Y-you want to be, right?" She can feel his nervousness. He's worried she'll say no. 

He really is a big idiot, wasn't he?

The knowledge that she wasn't the only one fumbling, trying to get used to this new level of _closeness_ between them soothes Touka's nerves a bit. They could learn together.

But before then, seeing her opportunity to tease him, she couldn't let it pass by. 

Sappy words, outright declarations of desire and affection, cuddling all were new to Touka. Though wonderful, they made her feel unsure and antsy; these things just didn't come as naturally to her as they did to Kaneki. But teasing? Touka could easily tease.

"I dunno. Maybe." The lilt in Touka's voice causes him to relax, the tension ebbing from him as quickly as it filled him. He knew that tone. She was toying with him. "Give me a good reason why I should be your girlfriend, Kaneki Ken!" She scrambles from his hold once more and turns to face him, hands on her hips as she looks at him expectantly. "And they better be good reasons! Not half-assed ones!"

He sighs and sits further back on the bed until he's leaning against the wall. His grey eyes were appraising Touka with an amused smile in contrast to then fake glare she was giving him. "I make you laugh." 

Touka waves her hand in the air dismissively. "I laugh at dumbasses all the time; you aren't special in that regards. Try again." Her gaze is challenging, and her lips thin to stop the smile she's struggling to keep from appearing.

"Okay..." Kaneki thinks for a moment before saying, "I've always got your back no matter what. Forever." 

She doesn't allow his sincerity to throw her for a loop. She has a role to play, and she does it well. "So does Yomo-san, but doesn't mean I want to be his girlfriend." Kaneki grimaces at the thought. "You've got one more try, Kaneki." 

"One more?" Kaneki repeats slowly. Touka nods and tells him to make it a good one as she pokes his chest. Smiling, he grabs her wrist and slowly pulls her forward. She doesn't resist as she sits on his lap, nor does she pull away as one of his hands cup her cheek, while the other brushes her bangs out of her eye. Her act begins to fall apart at his soft touches and completely shatters when he says, "How about because I love you?"

Touka's breath hitches. That wasn't the first time he had said that – but she hardly counted the times he had said it when they were tangled up in each other underneath sheets – but to hear him say it now is something completely new. She's unable to write off this declaration as a rush of endorphins. _He loved her_. She can only say one thing. "_Fuck, _Kaneki!" She buries her face into Kaneki's shoulder, embarrassment overriding her system.

Kaneki shakes beneath her with laughter at her eloquence. "Yeah, well I do, Touka-chan, I love you." His laughter only grows louder, freer when she groans again in mortification. "So, does that mean you will you be my girlfriend?" 

It takes her a moment, but when she finally pulls back, her face warm and her eyes glassy but she does her best not to fall to mush despite the way her stomach is in knots. Instead, she tries to be confident and cool – not that she's fooling anyone least of all herself. "Haven't I been your girlfriend for a couple of weeks now?" 

Kaneki smiles brightly at that and Touka swears her heart stops for a moment. She wraps her arms around his neck as he bumps his nose against hers playfully. "Well yeah, but can you blame me for wanting to hear you say it?"

Touka pinches his cheek like he's her errant child, and then her eyes soften and she out the words that have been locked away within her heart for years. "I love you too." Kaneki surges forward, his lips hungry for hers. She matches his passion effortlessly, the two falling into sync as they always did. 

Touka would never pull away.


End file.
